The present invention relates generally to a method of manufacturing footwear, and in particular to a method for manufacturing an article of footwear with customized cleat placement.
Designs discussing interchangeable cleats, including adjustable cleat patterns have been previously discussed. Workman (U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,847) teaches a boot with a replaceable sole plate. The boot has a cavity located in the bottom of the sole and a sole plate that releasably fits within this cavity. Workman teaches a sole plate that can easily and quickly be replaced with other sole plates having different types of traction surfaces.
Although Workman teaches a boot with a replaceable sole plate, Workman fails to teach a system and/or method where a customer can design a customized cleat configuration. Instead, Workman only teaches a system where a customer can swap one preconfigured clear design along the bottom of a sole plate with another preconfigured design.
Tsuji (U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,324) teaches a bowling shoe having customizable ground engagement. Tsuji discloses a bowling shoe construction that has various options for removing and replacing slide parts to attach to the tread surface of a slide shoe. Tsuji teaches the use of annular cleats with a slide shoe. Although Tsuji discloses various arrangements of the annular cleats that may be used with the slide pad, the holes corresponding to the annular cleats are preconfigured, and are not customizable by the wearer or customer. Furthermore, Tsuji teaches the use of annular cleats for bowling shoes that are intended to be used on smooth wooden surfaces, not the use of cleats intended to penetrate into both natural and synthetic turf.
There is a need in the art for a customizable cleat system that solves the problems of the prior art.